The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-09-22


plainI ills in error are charged with being acoes-
series before the fact. There are sixty-eight
counts In the Indictment, and these charge the
eight defendants with being present and abet-
ting to, and some OF them say that they
advised and encouraged these lawless acts.
II the defendants advised and encouraged, aided
or abetted In the killing of the policemen. there
fore they are rs guilty II they had taken these
mems lives with their own hands. II any OF
them stood by and saw or aided in the throwing
OF the fatal bomb each of the aiders and abettOrs
are as guilty as him who did the fatal deed. Ii
they combined to accomplish such murder by
concerted action the ordinary law OF conspiracy
Is applicable and the acts and declarations OF
one of them. done in furtherance Of the common
design, are. III contemplation Of law. the acts
and declarations of all This prosecution, how
crime. 1t Is charged tina. the defendants were
united and had conspired to do this awful work
and that their common design was fulfilled in
while not perhaps q combination of the same
culprits desire on the several parts and pur-
poses to accomplish the same ends.
THE QUESTIONS PRESENTED
!. Did the defendants have common pur-
pose or design to murder these police? Did they
such combination death to men who were the
guardians of the law? Who made tho bomb
that killed Degen? The bomb was round and
was as big as base ball. says competent wit
ness, and witness says: Il saw the bomb and
knew it was a round bomb" The court follows
in the description of the various bombs in use
mentioning four different varieties of these
destructive compounds, and concluding that
these, the most deadly of them were made
by Louis Lingg, Judging from what had been
found in his possession aud his acquaintance
with William Seliger, who was German car
penter and made his appearance in Chicago in
1885, and who seemed to be an expert in bomb
making and in March, 1886, brought dynamite
there. The court quote some experiments made
by these gentlemen in their peculiar trade, all
Of which go to show that these two gentlemen
shows that these two men. April 80. 1856, the
Friday before tine haymarSet meeting. met, and
Lingg brought TO Seligers house a large wooden
box. three feet long and from sixteen to eighteen
inches high, and that it contained dynamite
and that he uingg) spent that evening in filling
dynamite into gas pipe and globular shells,
using a Hat piece of wood, which he had made
for that purpose, and he was also ASST sted bv
number OF persons. and Sel1ger among
them Upwards of fifty. bombs were
finished that afternoon, and 1t appears to have
been continued till the very evening Of the
Haymarket meeting. The record goes on i'm
plicating Others, especially one Heebner, who
was seen working at some coil fuse, and Lingg
Seiger, Thalen and Herman were frequently
engaged in casting and melting in Seliger's
kitchen. Pieces of shells made by Lingg were
subjected to chemical analysis. and were found
to be composed of certain percentage of tin
and the remainder of lead and anthony. iron
and zinc, and out of the four bombs examined
the percentage varied but little and the pieces
taken from Degen's body and those found at
Lingg after his arrest were of the same COM
position. The evidence goes on to further co u
pllcate Linggs connection with this terrible
affair so closely that escape for him would be
impossible. After fastening The evidence upon
Lingg s guilt the court asks the question:
WHY DID LINGG MAIZE TIE BOMB
which killed Degan? To answer this it be-
comes necessary to examine the character of the
association with which these defendants were
about this organization, nor little about it's OBJ
jects It's platform was published by the Alarm
and the Arbeiter Zeitung. The court quoted
many familiar extracts from that sheet. Among
them are the peculiar ideas of the communists,
the adjustment OF titles to lands and a sort Of
freedom which is far beyond ages in the rear
Of modern civilization, and in some OF these arti-
cles the charge is made that the state, the
churches, the schools and the press ara
In the pay and under the sway Of the
capitalist. and that the laborers must overthrow
these powers by physical strength It is adj
mitted, and even positively asserted. that such
a thing as right of property is not only myth,
but great wrongto those who by laziuess and
other faults have new r earned property. or by
their want of thrift cannot keep such as they
may have had This association subverts all
law. These men should read our constitution
and laws. and then they will find that they are
hemmed with law, but yet the yoke is so light
| that none will feel it. There was anothe news
aden called ened the Aam s aad
and it was under the management
OF Engel and others of these defendants. The
court proceeded to connect the other felonies in
the case. for instance, that these movens were
the chief movers, and the center of any and all
communistc meetings in Chicago and that they
were in person and were always pronounced
followers of the red flag. Evidence was given
that there were twenty-five to thirty labor
unions in Chicago at that time. embracing a
membership of from fifteen thousand to sixteen
thousand. A large majority of these men were
honest, industrious men, working daily
for their daily bread, well meaning
men and had no thought of anarchy
or any of it's hateful doctrines The assemblage
| for any ordinary purpose would have been law
| full, but it was conducted as an unlawful assem-
bage, even prior to the arming and drilling OF
laws Of Illinois Each Of these defendants will
| fully and maliciously violated the laws of the
| State of Illinois and they shall suffer tie ex-
| treme penalty fixed by the court of Cook county
| on the day previously stated. AS specimens OF
weapons by which depraved men men with
no heart could use against their fellow creatures
nothing in modern times can approach the eX-
| quisite means devised by these anarchists. and
| they seemed to have made study OF that awful
purpose. The court very carefully explains the
law to conspiracy in all its phases, and quotes
extensively from eminent authorities. We think
that the course pursued on the trial in regard to
| the manner of empannelling the jury was cor
| rect and in accordance with the law. The state
| is not called upon to tender the defendants
second panel before the defendants tender il
| back four. We cannot see that the remarks Of
| the states attorney in the argument to the jury
were marked by any such imprOpr1et1es as re.
quire a reversal OF the Judgment. In theil
| lengthy argument counsel for the defense raise
some other points of minor importance which
say that we have considered and do not regard
| them we'll take;. The judgment of the criminal
court OF Cook county is affirmed.